Not yet, no. Even with the 20% off promotion, the game's relatively high price point (combined with the series' mixed reaction) is enough to stay my hand for the moment. (Not to mention which I'm sufficiently busy/enthralled with Stellaris and Warhammer TW to not want to play much else right now anyway.)

This game has all the elements of the old while adding a new layer? If so then the old one is redundant / obsolete.

This one gets more negative ratings in Steam than the original for some reason. The original was overwhelmingly positive. But no one made a serious review on justifying the negative rating. In the forums some are talking about the price. Should have been an expansion rather than stand-alone. Cheaper for owners of Sphere of Influence.

Yeah, I doubt I'll rebuy at full price, so no time soon, but Koei has made tons of money releasing full priced standalone upgrades of their various product lines, so I can't argue that the strategy isn't successful!

I played one campaign of the original (to the bitter, bitter end), but haven't gone back with other new and old shiny things to distract me.

This one gets more negative ratings in Steam than the original for some reason. The original was overwhelmingly positive. But no one made a serious review on justifying the negative rating. In the forums some are talking about the price. Should have been an expansion rather than stand-alone. Cheaper for owners of Sphere of Influence.

I understand that most of the negative ratings come from the earlier Japanese and Chinese releases which apparently contained some show-stopping bugs (long since fixed).

A "retainer" subgame has been added whereby, in addition to doing all the stuff you used to do in SoI, you now also have to grow and administer your own, personal domain. This is a completely separate sub-game from unifying the country. You can choose only to play as a retainer or lesser clan official, in which case you contribute to your AI controlled Daimyo's victory in proportion to your personal success. If you decide to accept the various promotions, you will eventually end up running your own clan as per SoI (while still having to manage your personal domain, I think).

The tactical battles have been considerably improved. Maps are more immersive, sieges are now fought out in the tactical sub-game, naval battles have been added, there are some new, formation mechanics.

I haven't spent much time with it but I don't regret paying the asking price for Ascension. It is such a big step forward over SoI that calling it merely an expansion and bitching about the price is, IMO, unjustified and small-minded. YMMV of course.

I loved the game; particularly the roles generals played. Assigning them to complete various tasks isnít unique, but trying to convince those in other clans to defect or even scumbag their own clan is. Working on an enemy general and convincing them to turn their army around when yours comes marching and then marrying him into your family as promised is pretty cool

Logged

"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

Well, looks like it wasn't meant to be.....Direct2Drive only accepts PayPal payments, which I actually prefer using. But their system keeps saying my PayPal account is "not verified", which is not correct according to my account and I have made thousands of purchases using it without any issue. They don't list any other direct ways to make purchases such as credit cards.

Oh well, these companies make it hard for me to try and give them money...their lost:)